tricky
Americanadjective
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involving snags or difficulties
a tricky job
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needing careful and tactful handling
a tricky situation
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characterized by tricks; sly; wily
a tricky dealer
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of tricky
Explanation
If something is tricky, it's difficult, like a tricky puzzle. And if a person is tricky, they're sneaky, skilled, or crafty, like a tricky magician who makes it look easy to pull quarters out of your ears. A tricky riddle is extremely hard to figure out, and a tricky question on a math test is even trickier if you can't use a calculator to solve it. In their 1986 rap classic, "It's Tricky," Run-DMC claimed that "it's tricky...to rock a rhyme that's right on time" — or in other words, it's really difficult to write a clever rap lyric.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It’s tricky, because they pretend to be limiting themselves with this rigid textualism.
From Slate • Jun. 11, 2026
This time, they must be thinking the last 16 is doable, although this is a tricky start.
From BBC • Jun. 10, 2026
The tricky part is knowing when to stay and when to go.
From Barron's • Jun. 10, 2026
“Cattle are tricky collateral,” said Ty Lucas, Chief Lending Officer for NebraskaLand Bank in North Platte, Neb., the heart of cattle country.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 7, 2026
Having lunch with professional food tasters, of course, is a tricky proposition.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
